American Power Helps Millions Survive Harsh Climatic Conditions in Winter Storm

Renewable energy was nowhere to be found during the brutal arctic cold snap in January.

Did you know the Weather Channel names winter storms, like it does hurricanes? Winter Storm Fern certainly qualified as significant enough to be remembered by name. From January 22 through the 27th, it stretched across an enormous swath of North America, dumping snow, ice, and sleet from Mexico to Canada. A state of emergency was declared in 24 states, and over 10,000 flights were canceled or delayed across the United States.

Over six inches of sleet fell in Arkansas. Mississippi and Alabama experienced hundreds of thousands of power outages due to ice taking down power lines. The stormed developed into a classic nor'easter and slammed the New England states with a couple of feet of snow. Boston saw a daily record of 16.7 inches of snow, shattering the previous record of nine—in 1905. Toronto had its snowiest day on record. Cold temperature records were shattered in many North American cities.

This storm was huge, and it walloped everyone in its path. Tragically, the death toll has reached a few dozen so far.

And yet the damage could have been far worse, were it not for the reliability of the American power grid. And that power grid relied almost exclusively on coal, oil, natural gas, and trash burning. "Renewable" energy was nowhere to be found, despite wind records also falling during this weather event.

"Conventional" = Reliable

Had the grid failed and the power not stayed on, the death toll could have skyrocketed. Downed lines due to snow and ice are one thing. If the grid failed to produce power at all, no army of linemen could have restored the capacity to heat homes across the impact zone.